Blessed Mother Marianne Cope

Sisters of St. FrancisWhat little good we can do ... to help and

comfort the suffering, we wish to do it quietly and so far as possible unnoticed and unknown. - Mother Marianne Cope

Born Barbara Koob January 23, 1838 in West

Germany Family moved to St. Joseph’s Parish in Utica,

N.Y. 1839, became US citizens in the 1850s. Last name Americanized to Cope

Called to vocation; but delayed, family needed her wages from factory work until younger siblings grown

1862, age 24, entered into Sisters of St. Francis, took name Mary Anna (later known as Marianne)

Early years biography

First assignments were teaching Served in leadership positions, 1870 made

Superior of St. Joseph Hospital, NY

October 22, 1883 – at age 45 years old – answered Kingdom of Hawaii request for help at leper colony…Mother Marianne wants to answer the call…

early biography, cont

Her life work begins…

www.catholichistory.net/images/MarianneCope.png

“I hope the Fr. Provincial’s good heart will approve my wish to accept the work with leprosy patients in Hawaii in the name of the great Saint Francis." (1883)Blessed Marianne Cope

Leprosy: Biblical and Franciscan

significance

Jesus Heals the Leper – Mark 1:40-45

Saint Francis, who overcame his fear of the leper by his embrace of one, came to see in the leper the very face of the crucified Jesus.

Leprosy

http://www.heyokamagazine.com/HEYOKA.4.Health.htm

Infectious disease: Mycobacterium leprae, an acid-fast, rod-shaped bacillus.

The disease mainly affects the skin, the peripheral nerves, mucosa of the upper respiratory tract and also the eyes.

Bacteria identified in 1873 by Dr. HansenNow called Hansen’s disease

Treatment in 1940s

Leprosy: only treatment in 1800s: isolation

Hawaii was a Kingdom, actually known then as the Sandwich Islands

Kalaupapa peninsula, Molokai

The isolation law was enacted by King Kamehameha V

The Sisters of St. Francis arrive in the kingdom

Oct 22, 1883 – Mother Marianne and 6 sisters

First 5 years they work on Kaka’ako, island of Maui

Receiving station where patients were evaluated before being sent into isolation on Molokai

A diary kept by one of the Franciscans, Sr.

Leopoldina, described the patient wards: "Fat bedbugs nested in the cracks [of walls]. Brown stains upon walls, floors, and bedding showed where their blood-filled bodies had been crushed by desperate patients. Straw mattresses, each more or less covered by a dirty blanket, lay upon the unswept floor. . . . Blankets, mattresses, clothing, and patients all supported an ineradicable population of lice. No attempt had been made to separate patients according to age, sex, or stage of illness. . . ."

Marianne arrives at Kaka’ako

From the book “A Song of Pilgrimage and Exile” by Sr. Mary Lawrence Hanley, OSF, and O.A. Bushnell

"permeating everything; air, clothes, straw

pallets, greasy blankets, even the wood of the walls and the dirt on the floors; hung the stink of lepers: the revolting stench rising from sores unwashed and uncovered, the miasma of dead and rotting flesh, in which voracious microorganisms by the billions eagerly devoured the debris from the tissues that they, and the implacable causers of leprosy, had killed in the bodies of their hapless hosts."

From the book “A Song of Pilgrimage and Exile” by Sr. Mary Lawrence Hanley, OSF, and O.A. Bushnell

The work was arduous

the Love and Service was equal

Mother Marianne used her administrative and leadership abilities to clean up the receiving

station.

Within 2 years king recognized her accomplishments with a royal medal

“For us it is happiness to be able to comfort, in a

measure, the poor exiles, and we rejoice that we are unworthy agents of our heavenly Father through whom He deigns to show His great love and mercy to the sufferers." (1884) Blessed Marianne Cope

Receiving station closed in 1888: lepers sent directly to Molokai

Marianne and 2 sisters move to Molokai to care for them

Blessed Marianne’s response

What were conditions on Molokai?

1000 forcibly exiled people…no hope…no cure…years to endure

Lawlessness, despair, men preyed on the women; children had no protection

Again, the sisters rolled up their sleeves and improved life for the lepers

Opened Bishop Home for Unprotected women

and girls Taught religion, morals, respect Cleanliness Joy, fun. Poet Robert Louis Stevenson sent a

piano Began gardens: vegetables, flowers,

landscaping Taught sewing…provided bright colorful

scarves, pretty dresses Continued to provide until her death at age 80

Measures to improve“Preach the Gospel always, use

words when necessary” – St. Francis

St. Francis Church

St. Philomena Church on Kalaupapa Peninsula on Molokai, burial site of Father Damien. Photo by Terry Richard the Oregonian

The Sisters of St. Francis tended to Fr. Damien when he fell ill with leprosy; and provided for his boys after his death

August 9, 1918Mother dies

Mother Marianne Passes On byDr. A. Mouritz

"The Venerable Mother Superior Marianne died at 10:50 p.m. on Friday, August 9, 1918, at the Bishop Home, Kalaupapa, Molokai; then the waiting Angels most assuredly guided her Spirit, heavenward. She had devoted 29 years of her life [plus] caring for the women and girls of the Home, and also five years previously at the Kakaako Hospital [island of Oahu] from November 8, 1883 to November 13, 1888. Her age at death was [80] years, 6 months and 17 days. The immediate cause of her death was kidney and heart disease…of several years standing."

A Brief World History of Leprosy 1943 [Dr. Mouritz was Father Damien’s physician.]

Photo taken shortly before her death

3 steps to sainthood

1.Venerable2.Blessed

3.Saint

1. Venerable

Deceased person recognized as having lived heroic virtues

Compilation of her life’s work provided to the Vatican Congregation for the Causes of Saints

1983 Vatican accepted report – Mother Marianne is venerable

2. Blessed

December, 2004 Vatican approves Miracle: Kate Mahoney, when she

was 14 years old, was cured of multi-system organ failure by

Marianne’s intercession

Shown here presenting relic of Mother Marianne to Pope Benedict XVI

Shrine & Museum (reliquary) of Blessed Marianne CopeSisters of Saint Francis Motherhouse1024 Court StreetSyracuse, NY 13208Visiting Hours 1-5 P.M. Wednesdays & Saturdays To be recognized as a blessed,

and therefore beatified, one miracle, acquired through the individual's intercession, is required.

3. Sainthood

Awaiting another confirmed miracle

Canonization requires two confirmed miracles, though a Pope may waive these requirements. Martyrdom does not usually require a miracle.

Kalaupapa Leper ColonyKalaupapa served as a leper colony from 1895 to 1969. Since 1980 is has been a National Historic

Park.

Kalaupapa Peninsula, Molokai, HI  United States2/28/2004 Image #7409 from the web at http://www.airphotona.com/image.asp?imageid=7390

Natural isolation – peninsula and cliffs over 3000 ft high

Kalaupapa peninsula is located at the base of the highest sea cliffs in the world, dropping about 3,315 feet (1,010 m) into the Pacific Ocean. The village

is the site of a former leprosy settlement. The isolation law was enacted by King Kamehameha V and remained in effect until 1969, when it was finally repealed. Today, about twenty former sufferers of leprosy—now known as

Hansen's Disease—continue to live there. The colony is now part of Kalaupapa National Historical Park.

Reverend Sister MarianneMatron of the Bishop Home, Kalaupapa

To see the infinite pity of this place,The mangled limb, the devastated face,The innocent sufferers smiling at the rod,A fool were tempted to deny his God.

He sees, and shrinks; but if he look again,Lo, beauty springing from the breast of pain!—He marks the sisters on the painful shores,And even a fool is silent and adores.

Robert Louis StevensonKalawao, May 22, 1889

Peace Prayer of St. Francis

Lord, make me a channel of your peace;Where there is hatred, let me bring your love;

Where there is injury, your pardon Lord;Where there‘s doubt, true faith in you.

Make me a channel of your peaceWhere there’s despair in life, let me bring hope;

Where there is darkness, only light;And where there’s sorrow, ever joy.

O Master grant that I may never seekSo much to be consoled, as to console;

To be understood, as to understand;To be loved as to love with all my soul.

Make me a channel of your peaceIt is in pardoning that we are pardoned;In giving of ourselves that we receive;

And in dying that we’re born to eternal life.